House GOP budget proposals for the 2021-22 fiscal year unveiled this week included the concept of quarterly appropriations to state departments. Only distributing money for 25% of the year at a time would make it impossible for the state to accurately plan for the year.

While the education budget was not among those unveiled with this concept, school districts would face similar issues appropriately planning for the year if budgets were only approved quarterly. Among the department budgets introduced Tuesday were state police, agriculture, natural resources, environment, general government, and military and veterans affairs.

State Budget Director David Massaron said the decision to adopt quarterly budgeting was a “particularly silly position…Three month budgeting doesn’t work in the private sector, anyone’s personal finances, and certainly not for government.”

Stay tuned to Capitol Comments for more updates about the state budget process in the coming weeks.